Business as Usual...

I have finally come to the conclusion that, no matter what kind of superhero mental image I have for myself, I am just a plain ol' human. I see others doing things that I judge to be wrong, condemn them without mercy, and pronounce sentence in the form of a disparagement of some sort, usually with the word "moron" included in there somewhere. This has been brought to the fore recently, and just today I found out just how wrong I could be.

My wife and I have a favored Mexican food restaurant that we patronize quite often. As it happens, we found ourselves there this evening for an early dinner. As we pulled into the disabled parking (I have mobility issues with my hip) I noted a late model GM pickup parked the the handicapped spot next to mine didn't appear to have any sort of disabled placard or plate visible. My wife, perhaps sensing what was coming, put a hand on my arm and warned me, in this case, not to go into "cop mode" (I was once in law enforcement) and to keep my tongue in check.

Now this, you would think, would keep me from making an idiot out of myself. Uh, no. While I didn't go on a rant or actually start shouting or anything, I did circle the vehicle, noting make, model, and plate number. My wife simply rolled her eyes at me, waited patiently, and when I was done, took my arm and directed me firmly into the restaurant. After we were seated, I once more made some comment regarding people who would so callously ignore the laws we live under, again using the "m" word.

It was at this point that a man with what appeared to be two broken legs came by on crutches escorted by his wife's firm grip on his shoulder. Needless to say, they weren't moving very fast. As they went out the door near us, I heard the man note to his wife that he had forgot to take the placard out of the glove box.

They got into the pickup that was parked next to mine.

Yeah, that pickup.

G-d tells us in His Word that we should be careful in our judgements of others. He reminds us through things like what happened today that we can't treat everybody as guilty even though the world would say otherwise. All fall short of G-d's expectations and it is only because of what His son did for us on the cross that we are forgiven our shortcomings.

This means me, too.

Fortunately, G-d loves me and keeps a piece of "divine pine" handy just for occasions like this when I need some humility knocked into me...

G-d Bless You and Keep You!